Corvids reveal highly-developed communication abilities

Originally posted on Flayrah: https://www.flayrah.com/3753/corvids-reveal-highly-deve...----When people think of the most intelligent animals other than humans, the first contenders are the dolphins and great apes. A less-obvious one may be birds of the family Corvidae, containing both crows and ravens. This was suggested when researchers at Oxford found crows are able to make specific tools, a feat never before seen in other animals.

More recently, ravens have been shown to direct other individuals' attention through gestural communication; the first time this has been seen outside of the primates. In primates, such gestures are rarely seen in the wild. Why wild ravens show this behaviour more commonly is unknown, but it is thought by some to be the foundation of language.

Other examples of animal intelligence include gorillas that can communicate in sign language, dolphins using tools and having cultural elements and elephants co-operating to solve physics puzzles. Animals even suffer the same psychological effects as humans, as shown with the 5% of American military dogs suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Altogether, this suggests that many animals may be far more intelligent than they are often given credit for.

Think about that.Can YOU tell the difference between one pigeon and the next?Or if you could, could you describe to your son that one pigeon so accurately, that he doubtingly and unfailingly can spot that pigeon?

..The point is.. Don't piss ravens off.

Crows can ‌remember your face between generations. Think about that. Can YOU tell the difference be

I didn't watch the video but I did read the article. That's not between generations though or the same as describing someone to your son. That's the birds remembering, which is cool, and then other birds watching their behaviour with certain people and imitating it. For example it's your son watching you throw stones at one pigeon in particular and then remembering that pigeon himself and also throwing stones at it.

I didn't watch the video but I did read the article. That's not between generations though or the sa

Don't shunt source material then form an argument boy. Some of the crows never actually saw the person in the mask, but they knew about him all the same. Even subsequent generations of crow, whose only experience with the "masked scientists" was from stories told 'round the crow campfires at midnight, displayed the exact same antagonistic behavior when encountering the mask.

Regional Dialects. Recognizing that a caw has a southern drawl to it, Or a northern british snootyness to it. That is a property of complex language.

Tool Use. Not monkeys using a blade of grass to get termites, or an otter banging rocks on clams. Bending wires, using stiff leaves and grass to make knives, and using those tools to create other tools? That's crow stuff. Crows have passed tool based intelligence tests that I'm sure some of my us.. less gifted community collage classmates would have been baffled by.

Alright, I watched the video now and I still have the same criticism. They didn't show that the crows recognised the faces after only being told about them. The crows were all wild and so ones that hadn't been caught will have been able to see ones that had been caught reacting to the faces and then learning that those faces are bad. Over time more birds will have had a chance to see the interaction, which is why the number that gave alarm calls increased over time. If they recognised it purely from a description then they should all have known right from the start.

To show that they could recognise faces through being told about them but without seeing them you would need to have a crow, or group of crows, that know the bad face and release them into a group and then go back later, remove the birds that had seen the mask and then see whether other birds react to the face.

At current they are all able to watch how the other birds respond so they can just pick up on the cues. If they see one bird making an alarm call at the mask they know that that bird knows that the mask is dangerous and then they copy that the next time. That is different to being told about the mask and subsequently recognising it just from a description.

Alright, I watched the video now and I still have the same criticism. They didn't show that the crow